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A New Executive Producer for ABC’s ‘World News’

By Brian Stelter September 15, 2011 1:42 pmSeptember 15, 2011 1:42 pm

Jon Banner, who managed ABC’s nightly newscast “World News” through nearly a decade of turbulence and through four periods of anchors, is moving off the program and into a special projects position at the news division.

Mr. Banner, the longest-serving of any of the evening news executive producers, is being succeeded by Michael Corn, a longtime producer of ABC’s morning program “Good Morning America,” called “GMA” for short.

When the anchor Diane Sawyer moved from “GMA” to “World News” at the end of 2009, some producers, including Mr. Corn, moved to “World News,” too. Many people inside ABC had expected Ms. Sawyer to have a new chief producer appointed right away, but Mr. Banner remained in charge of the newscast for the better part of two years.
The shuffle comes nine months after Ben Sherwood, the “GMA” chief between 2004 and 2006, became the president of ABC News.

In an internal memorandum on Thursday, Mr. Sherwood said that Mr. Banner would be a senior executive producer “responsible for division wide initiatives,” including election coverage and special events. Mr. Banner will report to Mr. Sherwood.

“Given Jon’s deep relationships across the company, his formidable knowledge of the news business and his can-do spirit, he will be a bulldozer in our drive to unite this organization with a common voice and mission,” Mr. Sherwood said.

Mr. Banner was a constant for “World News” during a decade when little else was. He took over the newscast in 2003 when Peter Jennings was the anchor; two years later, Mr. Jennings died, effectively ending a stable period in network news.

Mr. Banner and two new anchors, Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas, tried a younger, fresher “World News” in 2006, but within months, Mr. Woodruff had been critically injured in Iraq and Ms. Vargas, who had become pregnant, had resigned. Charlie Gibson took the helm for three and a half years, and then Ms. Sawyer took over in December 2009.

During Mr. Banner’s tenure “World News” remained the No. 2 evening newscast while the “NBC Nightly News,” anchored by Brian Williams since 2004, remained No. 1. The “CBS Evening News” remained No. 3. Earlier this year Scott Pelley succeeded Katie Couric at CBS.

Ratings for the evening newscasts have been gradually declining for decades, but so far this year the newscasts have collectively gained several hundred thousand viewers. The gains have been attributed in part to the busy seasons of national and international news.

Mr. Sherwood said in the memo that Mr. Banner was handing over the program to Mr. Corn “at an exciting moment of growth, opportunity, editorial excellence and momentum.” He praised Mr. Corn’s energy, creativity, competitive zeal and news judgment.

The rival newscasts on NBC and CBS also have new chiefs. In June, Patricia Shevlin was named the executive producer of the “CBS Evening News” at the same time that Mr. Pelley took over for Ms. Couric. She succeeded Rick Kaplan, who had the newscast for four years.

In July, Patrick Burkey was named the executive producer of “NBC Nightly News,” succeeding Bob Epstein, who had run the newscast for two and a half years. Mr. Epstein was promoted to vice president of specials for the news division.